Sunday's coming!

Jeremiah 33: 14-16 Luke 21: 25-36  Today is Advent Sunday. Christmas really is coming. Four more Sundays to go…23 more days…love it or loathe it, Christmas is coming and it will soon be time to celebrate the coming of Jesus. So it’s time to get ready to celebrate. But what are we celebrating? An event of 2000 years ago, that still has some attraction to us? A chance to meet up with family & friends and have a holiday? Or dare we actually hope for something new to happen – for God to act here and now? Jeremiah prophecies that the day will come – the day will surely come when God will cause a branch of David to spring up : “and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety”. God does not just promise a king, he promises a king whose kingdom, whose rule, will mean peace and justice and a new world order. God’s people have to wait and hope that in all the mess of their lives – as other world powers battle...

         ( 1 Samuel 2: 1-10, Mark 13: 1-8) Just when we need Corporal Jones most, news came to us the week before last that Clive Dunn, the actor who delivered those memorable lines, is dead. It seems our world is full of bad news – whether it’s the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria, renewed violence between Israel & Palestine, or the fact that there’s just over 5 weeks to Christmas… it’s enough to make us panic. This is nothing new – Jesus lived in times of great uncertainty. Sickness and death were far commoner than they are for us, the land of Israel was permanently ruled by the Roman foreign power, and Jesus’ whole ministry is punctuated with questions and resistance. No wonder Jesus’ followers wanted to find something solid and reliable in their lives – and they turned to the temple. “ Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!”. But Jesus wants them to understand true solidity and reliability. First they need t...

Mark 12:38-44 As he taught, Jesus said, ‘Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the market-places, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honour at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.’ He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.’ I love this reading – Jesus says “beware of those who like to walk around in long robes.. and have the best seats….” ( I will at this poi...

Revelation 21: 1-6a John 11: 32-44 It was All Saints' Day on Thursday and I heard on the radio a short piece by The Rev Richard Coles, who is a broadcaster and who has written a book called the Lives of the Improbable Saints. In the broadcast he outlined the roles of some of the less famous saints and described how to pray to the patron saint of car parking, Mother Cabrini: "Mother Cabrini, Mother Cabrini, please find a space for my parking machinery." I can see you’re not a bit convinced. So what is the point of saints? I love the description from the US theologian and writer, Frederick Buechner “In his holy flirtation with the world, God occasionally drops a handkerchief. These handkerchiefs are called saints.”. The image Buechner is conjouring up is of the young woman, trying to catch the eye of the young man, who  ‘accidently’ drops a handkerchief so that he can pick it up and engage her in conversation. God wants us to know that his love and con...